Use of gaseous fuels, such as, natural gas, may be more in demand over the use of other hydrocarbon fuels in internal combustion (IC) engines. Gaseous fuels may be comparatively less expensive than the hydrocarbon fuels, and may burn relatively cleaner during operation. Cleaner burning of the gaseous fuels result in a reduced amount of combustion byproducts, such as, carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and unburned hydrocarbons.
However, sometimes, the gaseous fuel flowing through various parts of the engine system may include particulate contaminants therein. The gaseous fuel containing the particulate contaminants may flow towards and sometimes even enter into various components of the engine system positioned downstream of a gaseous fuel tank. This may damage or lead to failure of the respective components of the engine system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,120,335 describes a separator to separate products finely ground in a mill from a gas current consists of a housing which can be attached to the mill discharge site, having a tubular cylindrical insert which extends into the housing. The gas current is led into this tube and returned along its outer side. By sharply deflecting the gas current at the outlet of the tube, the product is separated and collected. In order to improve the efficiency of separation, the insert is designed so as to be formed by an inner tube and an outer tube, which form an annular space which serves to return the gas. A plate shapes the annular space as a spiral flow channel. There are slits in the outer tube located at the height of the bottom of the flow channel formed by the plate.